I don't know why, but I wanted to hear who is your hero. You can list as many as you like. Real or not. Give a small explanation about why you look up to this figure and say as much as you would like! ----

My longtime hero has been my high school principal, a man of outstanding principle.

On the first day of school we had an assembly in which he addressed us and informed us that we were all to memorize the school's rules, a feat which the entire class of incoming freshman was able to accomplish quite easily. I'll share with you here the complete list of rules:

1. Do right

End of list.

He said, and I have to paraphrase here, "You're all young men and young women. If you don't know the difference between right and wrong by now you don't have any business being here. So if you do something and find yourself in my office, don't look surprised and try to say you didn't know what you did was wrong." His motto was "The right way or the highway." and he meant it when he said, "I'll put your ass out on 45 (the highway that ran near the school)," as several students learned the hard way.

At the time (early 80s) ours was the only high school in the entire state which had designated smoking areas for the students, something he had to go to the state capital and make his case for. He said he'd rather have the smokers right out in the open where he could see them than have to be hunting for them and worrying about them setting the school on fire.

In my entire life, I have had precisely three compliments which have meant a great deal to me, in that they were actually comments made about me to others and which I learned of later. One of them was from him. He said, "I could be broken down in a ditch somewhere at three o'clock in the morning and call Michael Cash and I know he'd be right there to get me." The comment/compliment has served me as a lifelong reminder of the importance of being reliable.

While I'm at it, I suppose I may as well mention the other two.

One was from a lady who worked in the cafeteria on the serving line. She was a longtime friend of my mother and one day told her that my brother and I were the only two people in the entire student body (about 500) who always said "please" and "thank you". Contrary to what some here may think, I do have good manners.

The third was from a gruff officer aboard my ship while I was in the Navy, an engineering officer who had come up through the enlisted ranks. I served as a wardroom attendant for 90 days, serving meals, cleaning officers' staterooms, and schlepping their laundry back and forth to the ship's laundry. After I had finished my temporary tour in the wardroom my successor once asked me, "Did Mr. Ryan like you?" I replied, "Not that I could ever tell. Why?" "Because the other day he said, 'How come things are squared away like they were when Cash was up here?'" This pointed out to me that there are people who notice a job done properly even when you think you're not being supervised.

My Hero is my Bishop. He loves to hang out with us kids, is an all around fantastic person and makes sure we do what is right. I know that i can tell him anything and he wouldn't think any less of me. He wants the best for everybody and i would trust him with my life. I respect him with all my heart.

Martin Luther King Jr continues to impress me the more I learn about human nature. When I learned about him in grade school, he was just some historical figure. But now when I think about him, I have to ponder what kind of massive respect do you need to keep people from physically retaliating when they're being assaulted, lynched, and violated in so many different ways for nothing they did. The only explanation I can think of is the force of God.

However, as for people I know personally, I can't think of anyone that great. There are some that I respect, but not to that extent.

My hero is my big brother Dave. We have an age gap of 6 years and my brother has always been the person who has gone through things before me and can help and teach me what's right and wrong from what he has done. My brother gives me the motivation to try and make myself have no regrets, like he has from when he was my age.
My big brother is very popular and charismatic. He has many friends and has connections with everybody. Dave is the Big Man that can bench press and lift objects more than twice his weight. He even made a school record at our high school showing his strength. My big brother is always trying to help me success, even though he's mean sometimes. ---

Mike C.- I really think you have said something really personal to the internet about your heroes. It was nice of you to tell us something which can mean a lot to you and possibly others of who you look up to
---
Zen's a computer?! XD
---
Dehitay- King Jr. has showed a lot of compassion and hard work towards how he has represented black citizens. That is definately something that everybody should appreciate within the power of a human being facing others.
---
Oh yeah, this may seem sort of "weird" but I sort of look up to Edgar Allan Poe as my "literary hero". I like his writing a lot and he has gone through such a tough life of losing four women he has loved well and is actually a really nice man.